f-Records3

St Louis Rams Gameday HQ

4. Peyton Manning - 5,477 Passing
Yards in a Season
For one of the most prestigious NFL records, the record for
most passing yards in a season, is one that hasn’t lasted long and
could continue to. Manning set the mark last season, by one
yard, passing Drew Brees, but he shouldn’t get too comfortable
with it. Of the top 11 passing seasons, 10 of have been set by
active QBs, with five of those blowing past Dan Marino’s once
seemingly untouchable 1984 mark (5,084 yards), since Drew
Brees and Tom Brady passed him in 2011. No one passed 5,000
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yards in a season until 2008 (Drew Brees). Now there are now
eight, by five different QBs and there are plenty of candidates to
challenge Manning’s record, including Manning himself, Brees,
who holds four of the top seven passing seasons, and, of course,
Tom Brady. The NFL’s young guns are represented by a pair
of 24-year-olds, Detroit’s Matthew Stafford and Indianapolis’
Andrew Luck. Stafford, thanks to Calvin Johnson, cracked the
5,000-yard mark last season, and Luck should in 2014. He saw
his yardage total dip last year but also cut his interceptions in
half and raised his accuracy over 60 percent. Luck will take aim
at Manning, with a healthy Reggie Wayne back, speedster T.Y.
Hilton, and veteran Hakeem Nicks beginning on opening night,
fittingly in Denver vs. Mannings’ Broncos.
Probability of Record Falling: Aerial attacks are so
commonplace in today’s NFL offenses that this record can
conceivably be topped.
5. LaDainian Tomlinson - 186
points in a season
Like the consecutive games streak, points in a season takes
kickers out of the mix, which eliminates the top 30 scorers
from 2013. That makes New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy
Graham the top scorer with 96 points. That’s barely halfway to
LaDanian Tomlinson’s mark. Really nobody has come close to
LT’s scoring mark, since he passed Paul Hornung’s 26-year-old
record of 176 points, which included 86 points on PATs and
field goals. Tomlinson passed Hornung the year after Seattle’s
Shawn Alexander came with eight points of him. The right kind
of versatile back in the right system could challenge Tomlinson,
like Kansas City Chiefs
running back Jamaal Charles
playing in offensive genius
Andy Reid’s scheme. In 2013,
Charles went for nearly 1,980
total yards and found the end
zone 19 times (12 rushing,
seven receiving), the most
among offensive players.
Reid’s former team, the
Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL’s
second-most potent offense
last season, features running
back LeSean McCoy, who led
the league in rushing (1,607
yards) and touches (366) and
put the ball in the end zone
nine times. Darren Sproles
may cost McCoy touches but also keep him fresher. Minnesota’s
Adrian Peterson also is a threat. Peterson scored 10 touchdowns
last season playing through groin and foot injuries. That followed
the previous season’s horrible knee injury. A healthy AP could
mean a bunch of TDs and a challenge to LT.
Probability of Record Falling: It’s a longshot, but 186 points
could fall. The chances of it being broken be a wide receiver—
even with today’s passing offenses—is unlikely. And with
more passing, teams are less apt to run the ball as much,
leaving less opportunities for a back to break one for a
score. Like Tomlinson, it’ll likely come from a versatile back
who gets the bulk of hand-offs and still have good enough
hands to moonlight as a receiver out of the backfield that
will challenge the record.
Unbreakable Perfection
DONALD MIRALLE/GETTY IMAGES SPORT
The 1972 Miami Dolphins’ 17-0 season is still the standard to which all NFL teams aspire.
Nobody’s perfect…except for the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
Watching teams attempt to match their perfect 1972 season has become a rite of every NFL season. So has seeing the popping
of champagne corks by the surviving members of the team once the last undefeated team loses. Last year that came on Nov. 17,
when the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs lost, 27-17, at Denver. While few and far between, there have been some memorable close calls
over the years. In 1985, the Chicago Bears went 12-0 before losing their only game on the way to a Super Bowl championship, 38-
24, Dec. 2, at Miami in the Orange Bowl. Then, in 2009 the Indianapolis Colts started 14-0 before suffering their first defeat, 29-15,
on Dec. 27, to the New York Jets. But the bubbly sat on ice the longest in 2008, when the New England Patriots nearly ended the
ritual. The Pats passed 17-0 on the way to winning their first 18 games. The bid for perfection ended in Super Bowl XLII, when Eli
Manning, David Tyree (and his helmet) and the New York Giants beat them, 17-14.
Probability of Record Falling: The 1972 Dolphins shouldn’t be shy about ordering bubbly by the bulk.